


Seasons of Necessity

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Stormseeker Saga: Alternate Timelines [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Dimension Travel, Elves, Gen, Gnomes, Original Universe, Story Fragment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-19
Updated: 2003-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 17:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While dodging gnomes, Lexen gets sent on a strange quest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seasons of Necessity

The bright sun slowly dawned over the eastern gate of Valiesdore. Lexen looked up, rubbing his eyes wearily and blinking slowly. The guards pulled open the gate with a low creak as the light streamed onto the streets. 

The gleam of new day's light brought with it also a strange humming sound coming out of the east. Lexen glanced up with confusion, squinting into the sunlight to see what it was. Dark shapes could be made out in the early morning light, flying in from the east like great birds, but they were no birds. As they drew closer, the sounds of yelling and clanging grew louder, and Lexen could quite clearly make out three large contraptions, piloted by a horde of frantic gnomes. 

Lexen slid down off the roof he had been asleep on, landing lightly on his feet. He ran ahead down the street as one of the planes came in low, crashing into the roof he had just vacated and sending splinters and bits of metal flying. The other two flew on ahead, and Lexen ducked aside into an alley as the second one came crashing down into the street. A sharp jolt of pain spread through his leg as a small bit of flying metal lodged itself there. 

"Stupid gnomes," Lexen muttered in annoyance, bending down to pick it out. It hadn't gone too deep, at least, though it had torn a small hole in his leather pants. A not-so-distant crashing sound indicated to him that the third contraption had finally crashed. 

Gnomes were scrambling out of the smoking wreckage, babbling to themselves. Lexen was slightly surprised that any of them had actually survived. But gnomes were resilient creatures, otherwise they would have given in to natural selection ages ago. 

As Lexen brushed himself off and started to walk away, he felt an abrupt tugging sensation as he was summoned across the Planes. He blinked for a moment as his surroundings changed and he found himself in an unfamiliar stone room. 

"Ah, there you are, Lexen," said a voice beside him. He turned to see Hawthorne, grinning broadly, the bared Zarnith glowing in her hands. She turned and slid the magical sword back into its scabbard on her back, pulling her short raven-black hair back behind her pointed elvish ears. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?" 

"No, not at all," Lexen assured her. "What do you need, Grandmother?" 

"Bah, don't call me that, makes me feel like an old woman," Hawthorne scoffed. She looked like nothing of the sort, really, she didn't appear a day over twenty-five. "I'm in need of a decent chronomancer." 

"Ah, you know I'm not _that_ good at it, Hawthorne," he said. 

"Nonsense," Hawthorne waved a hand dismissively, heading over to a table at the side of the room. "You're the only one I could find that I could reasonably expect will help me anyway." 

"What about Silver?" 

"Oh, I don't want to bother him for a silly thing like this," she said. Lexen detected a hint of jealousy in her voice, though. Hawthorne had never really gotten over the unexpected return of Silver's former wife. 

"Yeah, okay. What do you need?" Lexen asked, not wanting to press the matter. 

"I want you to go to another timeline to find something for me," Hawthorne says. "One where the Library Tower in Sheenvale still stands." 

"The Tower of Sheenvale?" he wondered. "What do you need there? I thought we retrieved most of the books before it was destroyed." 

"No, not books," Hawthorne said. She picked up a book off the table and flipped a few pages, and handed it to him. "Read here." 

Lexen took the book and peered down at the Tinean writing. It was difficult to decipher, as most Tinean was; being a non-linear language it's runes were not read in sequence but in association with the neighboring runes to form a pattern of information delivered all at once. But he could make out something about magical gems. 

"Magical gems?" Lexen wondered. "What do we need those for? We've got gems in this timeline." 

"No, no, no," Hawthorne said in frustration, taking the book from him. "Not just any magical gems. _Enchanted_ gems. A special set of enchanted gems. They've been destroyed in this timeline. I checked." 

Lexen had never heard of such a thing in recent times, so he scried back through time into the past to see when they had been destroyed. When he found his answer, he said, "Hawthorne, those gems were destroyed because they were dangerous and chaotic!" 

Hawthorne waved a hand dismissively again. "Yes, yes, I know, I've read the book. The research notes on them. I know where they went wrong and how the gems can be harnessed safely." 

"Alright," Lexen said. "If you think you can handle it, I'll go find those gems for you." 

"Thanks, Lexen," Hawthorne said, smiling. "I knew I could count on you."


End file.
